Crimean Tatar
[aka Crimean, qırımtatar tili, крымскотатарский]Classification: Turkic
·vulnerable
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Vulnerable
60 percent certain, based on the evidence available
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<100,000
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"Comrie writes in the Atlas of the world’s languages (1994) that ‘Maria S. Polinsky advises me that the number of solid first language speakers of Crimean Tatar may not exceed 100,000’."
- DATE OF INFO
- 1994
- TRANSMISSION
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- MORE ON VITALITY
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"In some communities, children learn the language, but many stop using it in adulthood. Probably all speakers exhibit strong influence of related Turkic languages, Russian or Bulgarian, and younger people may be less competent in Crimean Tatar. Definitely endangered."
- LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS
"In Bulgaria, the official term ‘Tatar’ refers principally to Crimean Tatar, and the number of ‘Tatar’ speakers lies somewhere between 6,000 and 11,000. In Romania there are up to 25,000 ‘Tatar’ speakers, which covers speakers of both Crimean Tatar and Nogay."
- PLACES
- Ukraine; Turkey; Uzbekistan; Romania; Russia; Kyrgyzstan; Bulgaria; Lithuania
- LOCATION DESCRIPTION
"Originally spoken in the Crimea, but most speakers were deported from there mainly to Central Asia after the Second World War. There are also Crimean Tatar speakers in the southern parts of the Dobruja region in northeastern Bulgaria and adjacent Romania. Crimean Tatar was spoken across the central parts of the Crimea, while speakers of Nogay in the northern steppe area and those of Crimean Turkish in the southern coastal region have been officially subsumed under the Crimean Tatar."
